Govt reviewing laws on the environment
Govt reviewing laws on the environment
JAKARTA (JP): The government considers the possibility of
revising laws on the management of living environment as they are
considered to be no longer suitable with current condition.
"We have established a team to review the Law No. 4/1982 on
the basic provisions for management of the living environment,"
State Minister of Environment/Chairman of the Environmental
Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said
yesterday.
A more comprehensive and integral law on the management of
living environment is badly needed in the current reckless
exploitation of natural resources and the environment, as a
result of the increasing economic activities, industrial
developments, technological changes and international trade
activities.
Sarwono said in a written statement, which was read by deputy
chairman of Bapedal P.L. Coutrier at the opening of a Conference
and Workshop on Environmental Auditing in Asia and the Indonesian
Strategy for Sustainable Development, that the existing law on
the management of the living environment is already out of date.
The minister said that in addition to the review of the
existing law, his office is currently also preparing a
ministerial decree concerning the implementation of environmental
auditing.
He said the adoption of environmental auditing is an important
contribution to maintaining competitiveness of the country's
industry in the world market. It could be done by introducing
environmental policies on cleaner production, waste minimization
and eco-labeling.
Sarwono said conducting environmental audits in an industrial
company with minimum use of resources for its products, will
reduce the company's production cost and improve the energy
efficiency.
He said the implementation of such audits will improve the
public's view of the company's image and enable the firm to gain
competitive advantages in green consumers' market.
He also said the environmental audits will internally increase
awareness and responsibility of company managers and staff toward
better environmental practices.
However, he said the qualifications and practice of the
Indonesian environmental auditors must match international
standards in order to get international acknowledgement.
Voluntary
Coutrier told reporters after the opening ceremony that the
environmental auditing would be implemented as a voluntary
activity, not a mandatory one.
The environmental auditing, however, will become mandatory if
business and industrial activities in certain companies are
suspected to endanger the public or public interest, he said.
In this case the State Minister of Environment/Chairman of
Bapedal may require the suspected parties to conduct and submit
the audit results, he added.
Coutrier also supports the minister's statement on the
outdated law as it does not include regulations on concessions in
the development of timber estates (HTI).
He said the law does not even mention a single rule on
integrated environmental impact analysis. (imn)